Mail-bag catching and delivering mechanism.



W. H. NEWTON. MAIL BAG GATGHING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.13)'1912.

Patented July 1, 1913.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

\.ULL.AHLMA VLANOGRAPH CO ,-WASHINGTUN. 1|.c.

W. H. N BWTON MAIL BAG GATGEING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

- APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1912 4 Patented July 1, 1913.

2 BHEETB-SHEET 2.

- Snow/bow Q3 W LWea/ZZ70 COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH 60-, WASHINGTON. D. c.

MAIL-BAG CATGI-IING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1913.

Application filed September 13, 1912. Serial No. 720,281.

- which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail-bag catching and. delivering mechanism, and has special reference to apparatus of the type shown in an application for patent filed by me June 10, 1912, Serial No. 702,911.

The objects of the present invention are to provide means whereby the bag to be taken up by a mail-car may be more readily hung upon the mast or supporting arm; to provide eflicient means for holding the mailbag take-up arm positively in position to engage the mail-bag support; and to provide means whereby the impact of a mail-bag and its support which are to be delivered upon the receiving arm at the station will be absorbed and injury to said arm thereby averted.

The several stated objects, and such other objects as will incidentally appear as the description of the inventionvproceeds, are attained in the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then particulaly pointed out in the claims following the description.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a mail-car equipped with my apparatus showing the same arranged to take up a bag at a station and to deliver another bag thereat; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional elevation of a portion of the car showing the manner of supporting the take-upor delivery arm thereon; Fig. 3 is a detail transverse section of the end of the supporting arm with the mail bag support in position on the same; Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the end of said arm; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the mail-bag support or attaching device; Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the device for holding the take-up arm in its operative position; Fig. 7 is a detail vertical longitudinal section of the arm for receiving the bag to be delivered; and Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of the same and the support therefor.

In carrying out mypresent invention, I

provide a post 1 adjacent the track at the station, and the said post is illustrated in the form of a wooden standard, but may be a metallic tube where durability is to be primarily considered. At the upper end of this post is mounted a swinging arm 2 which is adapted to fold against the side of the post and project above the upper end thereof or to be swung across the end of the post toward the track to support the mail-bag when the same is to be delivered to a passing mail-car. In the under edge of the said arm 2 at the free end thereof is provided a transverse groove or recess '3 opening through the opposite sides of the said arm, and upon the under side of the arm I secure metallic plates 4 and 5 having their ends projecting toward each other slightly beyond the side walls of the recess or groove so as to provide lips or shoulders to be engaged by the bag holder or support, as will be presently more fully set forth.

The plate or strap 4 is merely a short plate of suitable dimensions secured directly to the under side of the arm, but the plate or strap 5 is extended along the under side of the arm to and around the end of the same and then back over the upper side thereof and secured thereto so as to brace the arm and permit it to more effectually withstand the strain placed thereon by the bag suspended therefrom. While this'particular construction has certain economical advantages, it may sometimes be preferred to cast the arm in a single integral member with the lips as permanent parts thereof projecting partly across the open lower side of the recess or groove. Inserted through the arm from the top of the same into the said groove or. recess is a set-screw 6 carrying a spring 7 on its lower end, which spring is arranged longitudinally of thegroove and has its extremities turned downwardly to project through the groove adjacent the edges of the inwardly extending lips. This arrangement is clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The mail-bag, indicated at 8, is secured by a strap 9 which is permanently attached to a ring 10, and said ring is provided with outstanding lateral lugs 11, to and between which is pivotally secured a'supporting head or bracket 12. This supporting head or bracket is substantially T-shaped in cross section and has its depending, stem 13 pivoted betweenthe lugs 11 and the head proper or supporting plate 14 projecting laterally beyond the sides of the said stem whereby itmay rest upon the upper side of the inner projecting ends of the plates 4 and 5, as will be readily understood.

To suspend a mail-bag from an arm thus equipped it is necessary only to engage the end of the head 14 under one end of the spring 7 and then slide the said head transversely over the ends of the plates 4 and 5 within the groove 3. The ends of the spring 7 will then engage the opposite edges of the head, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, so as to hold the same to the supporting lips, while, at the same time, it will readily yield to permit the withdrawal of the support when the takeaip arm engages the ring 10.

It will be readily noted that the construction and arrangement described and shown furnishes a bag attaching or supporting device which may be readily handled and which may be engaged upon the suspending arm without the necessity of exerting any compressing force upon the support, so that the device may be readily engaged over the supporting lips. Moreover, while the spring engaging this support will hold it in position against accidental displacement, it will yield readily when the ring 10 is engaged by the take-up arm, so that binding or dragging and consequent breaking of any of the parts is effectually overcome.

The take-up arm 15 is detachably hinged to the door frame so that it may be placed upon either side of the car, and to the outer side of the car, immediately adjacent the hinged support of said arm, I secure a bracket or plate 16 to which a coiled spring 17 is attached in position to bear against the said take-up arm and thereby absorb the shock of its engagement with the bag-suspending ring 10 as the mail-car moves past the station. From the plate 16, a fork or parallel arms 18 extend around into the car through the door opening, and these arms are provided with openings 19 through which a retaining pin 20 is inserted so that the pin may bear against the take-up arm whether it is extended from the car or is drawn into the same so that the arm will be effectually held in either of its positions. It

, will be readily understood that when the pin is inserted through the outermost openings or those remote from the ends of the arms the take-up arm will beheld between the end of the plate 16 and said pin in its position to engage the mail-bag supporting ring 10, and, if the pin 20beinserted through the openings nearer the ends of the arms of the fork, the take-up arm will be held within the car so that the mail-clerk may remove the bag.

The bag delivering arm 21 may be constructed with supporting lips corresponding to the lips presented by the plates 4 and 5, and the bag support may thus be suspended from said arm in exactly the same manner as it is suspended from the arm 2. I have illustrated the delivering arm 21, however, as constructed in the same manner as that shown and fully set forth in my previously mentioned application.

The cross bar 22 which receives the bag to be delivered at the station is carried by the outer end of a slide 23, as shown and de scribed in my aforesaid application. The slide 23 in the present case, however, is slidably fitted within a guide 24 which is pivoted at its inner end, as shown at 25, within the housing 26 on the upper end of a pedestal 27. A coiled spring 28 is arranged within the guide 24 and has its opposite ends secured respectively to the inner end of the slide 23 and a pin or other fixed member 29 within the guide. The slide is provided with a shoulder 30 adapted to engage a stop 31 at the front end of the guide so that it will be held extended against the tension of the spring 28 in such position that a mail-bag supporting ring 10 carried by the delivering arm 21 will be caused to move over the end of the cross bar 22 and against the slide 23, the weight of the said ring and a bag attached thereto serving to disengage the shoulder 30 fro-m the stop 31, whereupon the spring 28 will contract and draw the cross bar 22 against the end of the housing 26 and thereby secure the said bag. As the ring 10 is carried against the slide 23 with considerable force, owing to the velocity of the moving car, the parts would be frequently damaged and destroyed when the slide was held in fixed guides. In the present arrangement, however, the guide 24 is pivoted so that it will yield to this impact and permit the slide with the cross bar carried thereby to be moved laterally when the mail-bag carrying ring impinges against the slide, the housing being flared to accommodate the movement. To limit this lateral movement and to absorb the shock upon the slide, 1 provide coiled springs or buffers 32 between the sides of the housing 26 and the guide, these springs being held in position by pins 33 extending from the opposite sides of the guide and playing in enlarged openings in the sides of the housing. When a bag is deposited upon the cross bar 22, the weight of the same will disengage the slide from its engagement with the stop at the end of the guiding tube, as before stated, and the springs at the side of the tube opposite that side against which the bag is hung will be compressed and, consequently, absorb the shock thereby placed upon the slide. After the car has passed, the springs will expand and again centralize the slide relative to the housing, so that the bag will be supported in its proper position to be easily removed by the postmaster or his assistant. Overcross bar 22 to engage the ring 10 and prevent loss of the bag through rebounding of the same.

It will be readily noted that my present improvements simplify the construction of the device and increase the durability of the same, while, at the same time, the engagement of the bag to be delivered to the car with the supporting arm is facilitated and the removal of the said ba as the car passes will be effected readify and easily and without damage to the bag, its contents, or the support.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In a mail-bag catching and delivering mechanism, a bag suspendlng device comprising a ring to be engaged by a take-up arm, a bag-holding strap permanently attached to said ring, and a T-shaped head also attached to said ring.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a support having suspending lips on its under side, a bag suspending device comprising a ring, and a slide secured to said ring and adapted to rest upon and extending between the said li s.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a supporting arm rovided with a transverse groove in its under side and supporting lips at the opposite sides of said groove, and a bag-suspending device comprising a ring and a T-shaped head carried by said ring and adapted to slidably engage said supporting lips.

4:. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a supporting arm having a transverse groove in its under side and supporting lips at the opposite sides of said groove, a bag-suspendin device comprising a ring and a T-shape head carried by said ring and adapted to slidably engage said supporting lips, and means on the arm to yieldingly engage the said head.

the said arm and entering the groove therein, and a spring carried by said set-screw within said groove and having its ends adapted to engage the edges of the said head.

6.- In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a pivoted arm, a spring adapted to bear upon the said arm, a fork passing above and below the Said arm, and a retaining pin adapted to engage the fork and bear against the said arm. 7

7. I11 an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a delivery arm, a bag-suspending device yieldably supported on said arm, a support disposed at one side of the path of movement of the said arm, a

pivoted guide on said support, a receiver slidably mounted in the said guide, and means tending to withdraw the receiver within the guide.

8. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a delivery arm, a bag-suspending device yieldably supported on said arm, a support disposed at one side of the path of movement of the said arm, a pivoted guide on said support, a receiver slidably mounted in the said guide, means tending to withdraw the receiver within the guide, and yieldable buffers bearing upon the sides of the guide.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. NEWTON. [Ls] Witnesses W. L. MILES,

J. W. Y. SMITHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

